Arbour Columbaria at Fraser Cemetery

Established in c.1869, Fraser Cemetery is one of the oldest public cemeteries in British Columbia. Typical of many North American burial grounds, this cemetery began to experience a shortage of space for burials in the late 20th century, resulting in a shortfall of funds to fully care for the facility. Our studio was retained to identify three potential pilot projects that were intended to provide interments at a higher density and thereby increase capacity and revenue. After a lengthy review The Arbour Columbaria was selected for design development and construction.

The project consists of a renovation to a very modest 300 square foot building housing the cemetery office and lunchroom, a new pedestrian entry, an underground communal ash vault, above ground columbaria for individual and family interments. These columbaria are framed by an arbour structure, planted with wisteria to create an elongated processional path.

In total, there is capacity for 975 new interments in what was previously an 11’ x 160’ wide strip of unused slope at the edge of the cemetery.